Some Advice Please...

denyse_marston

My daughter had a car accident recently the other driver admitted responsibility, wrote down his details but said he did not want to go through his insurance because he was a new driver, however as her car was declared a write off she told him she would have to go through her insurance because that was the only way to get a courtesy car. She also suffered whiplash and put in a claim the company told her that the passenger of the other car had also put in a claim.

Now after weeks of speaking to insuance etc the other driver is saying he did not have an accident! If this was so why would she have his details?, why would his passenger be claiming for injury? at the time of the accident two people came out from their house and although they did not actually see the accident they were witness to the other driver accepting liability, they have written a statement to this effect.

My daughter has been paid for her car however not the £350 excess, the courtesy car had to be returned when her insurance settled, his denial however is preventing the excess from being reclaimed (his insurance wont pay as they say there is a problem with his insurance) it is also holding up her personal injury claim. They are now without a vehicle which is much needed to get her partner to work, she feels her insurance company is not helping her at all, unfortunately she does not have legal cover as they can only just about afford the insurance premiums which they continue to pay even though they no longer have the vehicle.

The police will not help as they say it is an insurance matter, what would be the best thing for her to do?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

dacouch

It's not your Insurers problem to recover the excess as this is something you agree to pay.

What are the claims company suggesting as to the way forward?

Have you asked the claims co about recovering your excess?

InsideInsurance

Given she intends to claim for personal injury a no-win no fee solicitor (aka conditional funding) will take on the matter of the whiplash and the excess on her behalf.

It sounds like there are queries with both liability (by way of denial) and indemnity and unfortunately both of these can take time to resolve.

Did your daughter make her own notes of the car registration? Or take a picture? It wouldnt be the first time that someone gives false details at the scene of an accident. I assume you have double checked with your insurers that they took the details from you corrrectly too?

The problem in this day and age is that you can get someones insurance, who owns a vehicle etc all from the vehicle registration and by paying a small fee. Simply because you have the details doesnt prove you were given them by the person who had the accident as you could have bought them.

Back in my day we when we were defending these sorts of claims we would normally ask for a detailed written description of our driver from the claimant and from our client a copy of their driving license photo card or passport and a recent photo then compare description to photos.

How did you come to learn that one of his passengers are also claiming injury? Unless it is a taxi or such it seems odd that you'd have an accident with an associate in your car and then deny the accident happened when that same associate is suing you.

The matter of indemnity is hard to advise on without knowing what the concerns are. As long as it his vehicle then almost certainly they will be RTA insurer and so will be forced to deal with the claim even if he hasnt paid or such but it could add a year to the claim. If he was driving under the Driving Other Cars extension or another Any Car type extension then there could be more problems but the MIB would step in.

Your solicitor should advise on all these matters